Nepal asks India for more electricity

New Delhi, Mar 13 (ANI): Nepal has requested India to expedite construction of transmission lines damaged by Koshi floods and the cross border lines so that the amount of power imported from India could be increased. During the fourth high-level secretarial meeting of the Joint Committee on Water Resources (JCWR) between Nepal and India, which began here on Thursday, Nepal Water Resources Secretary Shanker Prasad Koirala, who is leading the Nepali team, said Nepal could import upto 150 Mw electricity from India. Indian water secretary UN Panjiar said both sides have agreed to complete Naumure’’s feasibility study by April. India has promised to construct Naumure hydel project in Nepal as a goodwill gesture. Among other issues that were discussed in the meeting are reconstruction of the Koshi Barrage damaged by floods in September last year, maintenance of the Gandak barrage and the inundation of Nepali and Indian land due to embankments constructed in India. As a part of power export-import agreement with India, Nepal has been importing 50-MW at present. Apart from the 50-MW power import-export agreement between the two countries, there is also an agreement on import to 60-MW at the industrial level. (ANI)